As part of the final results from the June 30 primary, the Registrar of Voters also provided the votes by each Riverside County precinct.

Once again, the Hill demonstrated its attention and participation in the democratic process. June 7 was a relatively low turnout election, only 33% of the state’s registered voters cast a ballot. In Riverside County, the turnout was less — 28%. Both are less than the 2018 gubernatorial primary.

But the Hill’s precincts exceeded both 2022 turnout figures. In Idyllwild, 52% of registered voters cast ballots. Turnout was greater than 45% in Pine Cove and Garner Valley. And in Mountain Center, 43% of voters cast ballots.

The six Hill precincts however were not casting similar ballots in all the races. The top of the Hill — Pine Cove and Idyllwild — tended to vote more Democratic and the valley areas –—Garner Valley and Anza — were more likely to favor Republican candidates.

The gubernatorial primary is an example of this difference. In total, the Hill cast slightly more than 1,000 ballots for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s reelection bid. And his November opponent, Republican Brian Dahle, received 523, about half as many.

More than half the votes cast in the governor’s race in Idyllwild and Pine Cove were for Newsom. Dahle got less than 20% from these precincts.

However, in Garner Valley, with 35% of the vote, Dahle out-polled Newsom, who earned just 19.6% of their votes. While the Anza precincts did cast more votes for Newsom than Dahle, it was much closer. Newsom got only 30% of all gubernatorial votes and Dahle got 27%.

The partisan difference is clearer in the Congressional District 41 primary. Overall, Republican incumbent Ken Calvert garnered 48.2% of the vote. Democrat Will Rollins earned 30.4% of the vote to be Calvert’s November opposition.

Fellow Democrat Shrina Kurani gained 15.6% of the vote. If her supporters shift to Rollins, the November race could be close. In Idyllwild, Pine Cove and the San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF) areas, their combined vote totals easily exceeded Calvert’s votes.

Pine Cove voters gave Rollins 38% of their votes and 36% of the Idyllwild voters chose him, too. These totals exceed Calvert’s vote in both precincts. In addition, Kurani got another 19% and 22%, respectively, of the vote from the same precincts.

But Calvert was the leading vote-getter in the SBNF, Mountain Center, Garner Valley and Anza precincts. In Garner Valley, he received nearly 60% of the vote and a slight majority (50.5%) in Anza. Rollins polled 22% of the vote and about 30% in the other two precincts.

The two Republican candidates collected more than 50% of the SBNF vote.

The state Assembly District (AD) primaries reflected this pattern, too. For AD 36, which includes Garner Valley and Anza, Republican Ian Weeks, who edged his main Democratic opponent Eduardo Garcia, was the leading vote-getter. Both Garner Valley and Anza gave more than 60% of their support to Weeks.

In AD 41, which includes Mountain Center to Pine Cove, Democratic candidate Christy Holstege earned twice the votes as her main Republican challenger Greg Wallis in the two larger precincts. The SBNF areas clearly favored Wallis and Mountain Center was split, giving seven votes to both candidates, who will compete in November.

The countywide races also demonstrated different political views. However, the race for auditor was the one with the fewest differences. All the precincts voted for Wildomar Mayor Ben Benoit against incumbent Auditor Paul Angulo, with the minor exception of Pine Cove.

There, Angulo had 116 votes, 20 more than Benoit. But the other challenger, Marshall Campbell, had 42 votes. So even a majority of the Pine Cove voters favored a new auditor.

For sheriff and district attorney, the vote results were similarly skewed. Sheriff Chad Bianco seeking his second term was easily preferred in the lower precincts. He just slightly edged his opponent, Michael Lujan, by nine votes out of 280 in Pine Cove. But Lujan turned the table in Idyllwild, where he outpolled Bianco by 23 votes out of a total of nearly 900 ballots cast.

The district attorney’s race produced an interesting result. Incumbent Michael Hestrin was the leading choice of voters in each precinct. In Anza, he was the overwhelming victor with more than 60% of the vote.

In Pine Cove, Idyllwild and Garner Valley, he received about 40% of the vote, compared to his countywide total of 55%. Although less than 50%, Hestrin did garner more votes than either of his two challengers. But combined, Laura Gressley and Judge Burke Strunsky did gain more votes than Hestrin in Pine Cove and Idyllwild, but he was the victor in Garner Valley.